Stop being a glass

A teacher comes to his student. He is wonder because his student always has been sad recently. “Why are you sad, son? There are a lot of beautiful things in this world, aren’t they? Where has been your happy face gone?”

“Teacher, my life has been full of problems recently. It has been hard for me to smile. The problems seems always come to me. They have never ended.” The student answers him.

Listens his student answer, the teacher suddenly laughs. “Son, bring me a glass of water and two spoons of salt. I will make your heart calms.”

The student goes and does as his teacher asks him. He comes back with the glass and salt.

“Please take a spoon of salt and put it into the glass,” the teacher orders him. “Then you can drink the water.”

The student does it. His face changes when he drinks the salt water.

“How was it?” the teacher asks him.

“It was salty,” the student answers him.

“Now, follow me!” The teacher walks to the nearby lake.

“Take the rest of salt and sow it to the lake.”

The student sows the salt to the water. The salty taste in his mouth is still there. Even he wants to spit it, he can’t do it. Doing such thing in front of his teacher is impolite.

“Now, you can drink water from the lake,” the teacher orders him. The he looks for a big stone for sitting on the lakeside.

The student cups his hands and takes water from the lake then he drinks it. When the fresh water flows through his throat, the teacher asks him, “How is it?”

“It’s very fresh,” the student answer him while he wiping his mouth. The water flows from the top of hill and it goes to the river below. It also gets ride of the salty taste in his mouth.

“Do you taste the salt that you have just sowed?”

“Not at all,” the student answers his teacher. Then he takes water again and drinks it. Seeing his student’s behavior makes the teacher smiles.

“Son,” the teacher says to his student after he finished drink. “All of your problems are like a spoon of salt. It’s only a little. The problems and sufferings that you have to face have been arranged by God for your sake. Each of us has to face our own problems. No one frees from it.

The student listens quietly. “But son, the salty taste of the sufferings is depends on your heart. You can choose to be a glass or a lake. I hope you can make your heart as wide as a lake…”